Johnson was also asked about Sixers second-year star Ben Simmons, who as a 6-foot-10 point guard, has drawn comparisons to the 6-foot-9 Johnson, who won five rings playing point guard for the Lakers.

"[Simmons] reached out to me, not to me directly, to the Lakers to find out if we can get together this summer," Johnson said. "I said, 'Hey, you got to clear it with the league,' and if everybody -- the Sixers sign off, we sign off, the league sign off -- fine, I will do that. But if everybody doesn't sign off, then we can't get together.

"But I love his game, I love his vision, I love also too, he's very, in terms of basketball IQ, very high basketball IQ."

When asked about Johnson's comments on Simmons, a team spokesman for the Sixers declined comment to ESPN.

Johnson was also asked about Sixers second-year star Ben Simmons, who as a 6-foot-10 point guard, has drawn comparisons to the 6-foot-9 Johnson, who won five rings playing point guard for the Lakers.

"[Simmons] reached out to me, not to me directly, to the Lakers to find out if we can get together this summer," Johnson said. "I said, 'Hey, you got to clear it with the league,' and if everybody -- the Sixers sign off, we sign off, the league sign off -- fine, I will do that. But if everybody doesn't sign off, then we can't get together.

"But I love his game, I love his vision, I love also too, he's very, in terms of basketball IQ, very high basketball IQ."

When asked about Johnson's comments on Simmons, a team spokesman for the Sixers declined comment to ESPN.

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Magic has never in his life been tight lipped about anything. That’s his thing. But I’m not sure if the league or the press has targeted any other team or FO like they have targeted the Lakers and Magic. It’s like everyone is deathly afraid of another 10 championship run by this team.

From CP3 to PG13 to Leonard and now AD and possibly Simmons, the whole NBA is losing their collective s*it.

When Porzingus told the Knicks FO he didn’t want to be part of the organization.....poof, off he went to Dallas. Not a peep from the NBA or other teams or Popovich. It was really no different from the AD situation and AD gets fined. The factual differences between those two events were immaterial.

Do players want to play for the Lakers? DUH! Yet the NBA can’t get over that.

Meanwhile you have a team in the Bay Area that basically has a starting lineup and bench players that are either perennial All Stars or future HoF, and that’s all cool. Where are all the “small market” teams on this issue? Total crickets.

puke ends the 3rd with a lineup of rondo, kcp, Stephenson, muscala and chandler. Then predictably, its game over.

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Practically every LAL fan that's on twitter is giving Luke the business for his shitty rotations.
The worst part is it's pretty damn easy to stagger LeBron's/Ingram's/Kuz's minutes.
That said, the team is going in the wrong direction defensively and it's been that way since NO started with the leaks

Practically every LAL fan that's on twitter is giving Luke the business for his shitty rotations.
The worst part is it's pretty damn easy to stagger LeBron's/Ingram's/Kuz's minutes.
That said, the team is going in the wrong direction defensively and it's been that way since NO started with the leaks

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He treats his lineup like it was a police lineup. Find some reason to nail a player and put him in purgatory. Is there anyone who understands what he is trying to accomplish? This isn’t the Warriors. No other team in the NBA is the Warriors. So what’s the deal?

He treats his lineup like it was a police lineup. Find some reason to nail a player and put him in purgatory. Is there anyone who understands what he is trying to accomplish? This isn’t the Warriors. No other team in the NBA is the Warriors. So what’s the deal?

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Both Luke and LeBron went about this game like they had money in the Sixers.
He and his Arizona posse are definitely getting fired after the season, and maybe that's the problem..that everybody in the locker room knows he's done, so he's lame in there and trying to throw around whatever weight he has left to regain control.
Kidd, Mark Jackson, Ty Lue..after that, I don't know. Maybe Earl Watson and Kevin Ollie will get an interview

Magic has never in his life been tight lipped about anything. That’s his thing. But I’m not sure if the league or the press has targeted any other team or FO like they have targeted the Lakers and Magic. It’s like everyone is deathly afraid of another 10 championship run by this team.

From CP3 to PG13 to Leonard and now AD and possibly Simmons, the whole NBA is losing their collective s*it.

When Porzingus told the Knicks FO he didn’t want to be part of the organization.....poof, off he went to Dallas. Not a peep from the NBA or other teams or Popovich. It was really no different from the AD situation and AD gets fined. The factual differences between those two events were immaterial.

Do players want to play for the Lakers? DUH! Yet the NBA can’t get over that.

Meanwhile you have a team in the Bay Area that basically has a starting lineup and bench players that are either perennial All Stars or future HoF, and that’s all cool. Where are all the “small market” teams on this issue? Total crickets.

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all the more reason to just stfu and do business like a businessman
between tragic and mebron these guys are acting like morons

Luke is toast. Anybody could watch tonight's game and see his rotations are what killed us tonight.

Obviously not everything is on the coach, but man tonight was a prime example of bad coaching. The minutes distribution, leaving the hot hand kuz out too long in the first and not even running a play to get him involved in the 2nd quarter, starting Bullock and not running any plays for him to transition in. All he did was stand in a corner and watch.

Then his bonehead rotation to end the 3rd that was essentially ended the game. Chandler and Muscala? I said to myself, oh man hes just trying to get shitcanned tonight.

Magic has never in his life been tight lipped about anything. That’s his thing. But I’m not sure if the league or the press has targeted any other team or FO like they have targeted the Lakers and Magic. It’s like everyone is deathly afraid of another 10 championship run by this team.

From CP3 to PG13 to Leonard and now AD and possibly Simmons, the whole NBA is losing their collective s*it.

When Porzingus told the Knicks FO he didn’t want to be part of the organization.....poof, off he went to Dallas. Not a peep from the NBA or other teams or Popovich. It was really no different from the AD situation and AD gets fined. The factual differences between those two events were immaterial.

Do players want to play for the Lakers? DUH! Yet the NBA can’t get over that.

Meanwhile you have a team in the Bay Area that basically has a starting lineup and bench players that are either perennial All Stars or future HoF, and that’s all cool. Where are all the “small market” teams on this issue? Total crickets.

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Magic out there trolling and transferring some of the bad juju into the Sixers' locker room. He's not slick at all. Lol But the whole thing is very interesting because Jimmy Butler's best position is actually point guard, and we've already seen Simmons' name mentioned in trade rumors for AD + a rumor that his gf is pulling him towards the Lakers. He was also pretty public about wanting to play for LAL before being drafted, so if Simmons turns down Philly's max extension offer this summer it'll likely be a solid indication that he plans to accept the qualifying offer after next season and become unrestricted and leave Philly in the summer of 2021. Philly could have to act as soon as this summer

Magic has never in his life been tight lipped about anything. That’s his thing. But I’m not sure if the league or the press has targeted any other team or FO like they have targeted the Lakers and Magic. It’s like everyone is deathly afraid of another 10 championship run by this team.

From CP3 to PG13 to Leonard and now AD and possibly Simmons, the whole NBA is losing their collective s*it.

When Porzingus told the Knicks FO he didn’t want to be part of the organization.....poof, off he went to Dallas. Not a peep from the NBA or other teams or Popovich. It was really no different from the AD situation and AD gets fined. The factual differences between those two events were immaterial.

Do players want to play for the Lakers? DUH! Yet the NBA can’t get over that.

Meanwhile you have a team in the Bay Area that basically has a starting lineup and bench players that are either perennial All Stars or future HoF, and that’s all cool. Where are all the “small market” teams on this issue? Total crickets.

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I mean I get that but at some point you have to recognize the position you're in and just be quiet. All it does is hurt this team.

I mean I get that but at some point you have to recognize the position you're in and just be quiet. All it does is hurt this team.

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Magic was aware from day 1 that the pels were not gonna trade them AD.
He put the team in the deal knowing the pels would still decline and instead leak the offer to
hurt young Lakers.

Which ultimately seems to have been magics plan to toughen these kids up. They are soft as fuck and the FO knows it.
Magic wants them to grow up and stop acting dumb on social media and being passive on the court.

I mean I get that but at some point you have to recognize the position you're in and just be quiet. All it does is hurt this team.

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Magic also said what we've all been saying..that these guys aren't babies, they're pros. Half of them are on 1 year deals anyway and knew that if LeBron helped hand pick them, that he could certainly turn around and be on board with sending them on their way for better players. At the end of the day they just need to worry about playing solid basketball and being good teammates for their own future if that's what it comes down to because what they put on tape will speak the loudest for their future. No interested team is gonna want to hear any trade rumor excuses, that's the business. Can't handle that, especially in Lakerland where leaks have been flowing for at least 40 years, then certainly this team isn't for them. Magic's words on Simmons just basically make me think " here comes the fine. " Other than that, I'm fine with it. It's his job to make LAL feel superstar-friendly, to keep that feeling alive after Dr. Buss. Was also happy to see LeBron pick every impending FA for his all-star team..because fuck these small market cocksucking owners and their collusion against the flagship brand of the sport. I hope Magic and LeBron never change in this aspect. Keep trying to improve this roster. It's just what Gebbeth said..the league is cool with everybody stacking the deck..except for the Lakers. Is that what happens when you save the league? Because that's exactly what showtime/Magic did.

Now, what's truly hurting this team is injuries. Hart now with his knee stuff. And admittedly, I've given Hart a ton a shit, but I don't take his defense/defensive rebounding for granted, that alone seemingly has him in the top half of the league at his position overall. And then obviously, Zo and his superb defense and rebounding. With Zo going down and Hart being hampered by the knee stuff, they have taken just a hell of a step back defensively. When I see Brandon Ingram defending in the inbounder on a side out of bounds play 3 times in a row and not once does he raise his arms to try and get a deflection or just provide resistance in the passing lanes with his go-go gadget arms, I see a young man that's taking his Laker career for granted. I don't feel sorry for him when he gives inconsistent effort. They're going out of their way to give him cred for his defense here and there, probably to get the light to come on for him, so he realizes his potential.

Personally, I'm far more worried about Luke and his garbage rotations. If everybody knows he's done after the season, wouldn't he know it too? Is he focused? Because how does LeBron/Kuz/Ingram all hit the bench at the same time and a 3pt game manage to turn into a 20pt game? Luke is utter trash. If your X and O game is meh, you can't develop young players, and your rotations are consistently sketchy..what in the hell do you do? Why in the hell are you coaching the Los Angeles Lakers? How? Anyway, I've been tracking the Pelicans all year and felt it was going to come to this based on AD signing with Paul over the summer, so I know that these players couldn't have been that shocked. Most of all, at this point having moved past the trade deadline, Lakers need to get over these injuries and Luke's shitty rotations.

Lol So Elton Brand says he has rejected the idea of Simmons working with Magic. Guess the Sixers are going to send Philly brass to LA in the offseason to be Simmons' bodyguards when he works out and gets run at LAL's practice facility, as he has enjoyed doing. Whatever. In a scenario where 1) Simmons turns down the max extension offer this summer when Philly puts it on the table, and 2) the door remains closed on LAL's push for AD....could Elton Brand seize an opportunity to get some of the pieces that LAL offered to the Pels for AD? Could Magic/Pelinka pivot towards a Simmons trade? I don't find it to be impossible.

If Simmons is traded before the end of the 20-21 season he will retain his eligibility to sign a designated veteran contract after 8 or 9 years of service, so it's in his best interest to move fast if he wants out of Philly, like many believe. Some would say, " well why wouldn't Brand try to trade Simmons for AD? " Pretty simple, AD has already made it known that he's not re-signing with anyone but LAL, so you have to imagine that Brand would want pieces he feels are long term options.